Mark Zuckerberg, wife donate $120 million to Bay Area schools

Associated Press

Updated 10:34 am, Friday, May 30, 2014

Photo: Julie Jacobson, Associated Press

Image 1of/10

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 10

In this file photo, Mark Zuckerberg, president and CEO of Facebook, walks to morning sessions with Priscilla Chan during the 2011 Allen and Co. Sun Valley Conference, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are donating $120 million over
the next five years to the San Francisco Bay Area’s public school
system. The gift is the biggest allocation to date of the more than $1
billion in Facebook stock the couple pledged last year to the nonprofit
Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

In this file photo, Mark Zuckerberg, president and CEO of Facebook, walks to morning sessions with Priscilla Chan during the 2011 Allen and Co. Sun Valley Conference, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Zuckerberg and his

This May 19, 2012 photo originally provided by Facebook shows Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan at their wedding ceremony in Palo Alto.

This May 19, 2012 photo originally provided by Facebook shows Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan at their wedding ceremony in Palo Alto.

Photo: Allyson Magda, Associated Press

Image 3 of 10

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan at their wedding ceremony in Palo Alto, Calif., Saturday, May 19, 2012. Zuckerberg updated his status to "married" on Saturday. The ceremony took place in Zuckerberg's backyard before fewer than 100 guests, who all thought they were there to celebrate Chan's graduation. less

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan at their wedding ceremony in Palo Alto, Calif., Saturday, May 19, 2012. Zuckerberg updated his status to "married" on Saturday. The ceremony took ... more

Mark Zuckerberg, president and CEO of Facebook, walks to morning sessions with his girlfriend Priscilla Chan during the 2011 Allen and Co. Sun Valley Conference, Saturday, July 9, 2011, in Sun Valley, Idaho

Mark Zuckerberg, president and CEO of Facebook, walks to morning sessions with his girlfriend Priscilla Chan during the 2011 Allen and Co. Sun Valley Conference, Saturday, July 9, 2011, in Sun Valley, Idaho

Photo: Julie Jacobson, AP

Image 6 of 10

In this Sept. 11, 2012 photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a "fireside chat" at a conference organized by technology blog TechCrunch in San Francisco. Zuckerberg updated his Facebook status on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2012, to announce that the social networking site has more than 1 billion active users each month. He thanked users and said that he is committed to making Facebook better. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company has had a difficult time of late. There were trading glitches the day it went public in May and concerns since then about its revenue potential. It's also facing lawsuits from disgruntled shareholders.(AP Photo/Eric Risberg) less

In this Sept. 11, 2012 photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a "fireside chat" at a conference organized by technology blog TechCrunch in San Francisco. Zuckerberg updated his Facebook status on ... more

Photo: Eric Risberg, Associated Press

Image 7 of 10

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2007 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg smiles in this office in Palo Alto, Calif. Zuckerberg turns 28 on Monday, May 14, 2012. He's considerably younger than the average FORTUNE 500 CEO, of course. But while some investors worry that Zuckerberg is too young to lead Facebook as a public company, experts point out that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell were in their 20s when their companies had IPOs. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) less

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 conference on September 11, 2012 in San Francisco, in his first public interview since the massive public offering on May 18 that was hotly anticipated but ended up being a flop. Facebook is not building its own mobile phone, despite some reports to the contrary, Zuckerberg said, adding the phone would be "clearly the wrong strategy" to adopt. AFP PHOTO/Kimihiro HoshinoKIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/GettyImages (KIMIHIRO HOSHINO / AFP/Getty Images) less

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 conference on September 11, 2012 in San Francisco, in his first public interview since the massive public offering on May 18 ... more

Image 10 of 10

Mark Zuckerberg (right), founder, chairman and CEO, Facebook shakes hands with Moderator Michael Arrington (left) of TechCrunch after a Fireside Chat at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 at The Concourse at San Francisco Design Center on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif. (Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle) less

Mark Zuckerberg (right), founder, chairman and CEO, Facebook shakes hands with Moderator Michael Arrington (left) of TechCrunch after a Fireside Chat at TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2012 at The Concourse at San ... more

The couple's gift will be spread over the next five years and is the biggest allocation to date of the $1.1 billion in Facebook stock the couple pledged last year to the nonprofit Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

"Education is incredibly expensive and this is a drop in the bucket. What we are trying to do is catalyze change by exploring and promoting the development of new interventions and new models," Chan said in an interview at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters.

The first $5 million will go to school districts in San Francisco, Ravenswood and Redwood City and will focus on principal training, classroom technology and helping students transition from the eighth to the ninth grade. The couple and their foundation, Startup: Education, determined the issues of most urgent need based on discussions with school administrators and local leaders.

Related Stories

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.